Category: Competitions

Audio Engineering Society’s Snow Speakers are the Bass-Thumping Heartbeat of Winter Carnival

A DJ performs outdoors at night behind a set of speaker racks and DJ booth made out of snow. Colored lights reflect off of a disco ball above, and below students dance to the music. A banner in front of the speakers says “Audio Engineering Society” with their logo, the WMTU logo and the Michigan Tech logo.
Audio Engineering Society continues their long-standing tradition of providing the soundtrack to Winter Carnival, this year with a feat of engineering that carnival-goers will feel as well as hear.
(All images courtesy of Michigan Tech’s Audio Engineering Society)

Every year students come together to turn Michigan Tech’s snowy campus into a wonderland of snow statues during Winter Carnival. For many years, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) has provided the soundtrack for the traditional All-nighter, bringing the energy with their signature snow speakers and a rotating cast of volunteer DJs.

Built in the center of the action on Walker Lawn between broomball courts and Husky Plaza, the snow speakers spread music across campus, livening the spirits of statue builders, volunteers, and visitors.

Visual and Performing Arts Student wins Audio Engineering Society Recording Competition

Thirteen students stand with assistant professor Jeff Sherwood in front of a large hanging AES Show banner at the student recording competition.
Michigan Tech VPA students attended the 2024 Audio Engineering Society International Student Recording Competition in New York City in October. (Images courtesy Michigan Tech Visual and Performing Arts)

Sound design student Nate Lyons ’25 brought home a Bronze Award in the Audio Engineering Society (AES) International Student Recording Competition. Lyons won the award in the Sound for Visual Media category for his sound design audio replacement of a video game. 

“I got the idea from one of my other classes where I was learning how to program sounds for video games. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to practice that skill with the programs that we use for video game sound design,” said Lyons.

Students have an opportunity to attend and present at the international AES convention in New York City as part of VPA career development and professional presentation travel and study away courses. This is the second year in a row sound design and audio production and technology students from Michigan Tech’s VPA have received awards in the prestigious international competition.